Bezel (jewellery)

A bezel is a wider and usually thicker section of the hoop of a ring, which may contain a gem or a flat surface (usually with an engraved design, as in a signet ring).^[1] Rings are normally worn to display bezels on the upper or outer side of the finger. In gem-cutting the term bezel is used for those sloping facets (also called sides or faces) of a cut stone that surround the flat table face,^[2] which is the large, horizontal facet on the top.^[3]

More broadly, bezels are found on tools and appliances. The sloping face of a chisel is known as a bezel.^[2] In vehicles, it is the part of the bodywork that surrounds a headlight or turn signal.^[4] On a cell phone or tablet, it is the back surface that frames the LCD screen.^[5]

The word may also refer to a bezel setting for a stone, which is a general term for a setting holding the stone in place with a raised metal rim for the stone, the rim's lip encircling and overlapping the edges of the stone, thus holding it in place.^[6] Modern bezel settings typically use a band of metal containing a groove and a flange (i.e. projecting lip) to hold a watch crystal or gemstone in its setting. This was the earliest method of setting gemstones into jewelry. In historic examples, such rings were often made by leaving a hole or slot in the ring with a thin lip which was bent over once the stone was inserted, holding it in place.

An extension of the term bezel setting can refer to a rotatable rim on a clock or watch used to indicate certain data such as elapsed time.^[7][8]

Other types of bezel settings, less used in modern jewelry, are swivel bezels where the bezel, perhaps just formed of a stone with a metal rod through it, can rotate, and box bezels, where a "box" or cage forms the bezel, often sitting on the main ring hoop, and perhaps open at the top where there is a stone.^[9]